RaisingTheBar

On the twelfth day of Festivus, TV gave to me ... twelve shows a'stinkin'!

Being the endless wasteland that it is, television has no shortage of bad product. Mind you, "bad" is always a matter of opinion. This year saw the end of According to Jim after eight years of decent ratings while in terms of quality it lasted about seven years too long. What follows is my own opinion and at the end of each item in the list, I will quote everybody's favorite critic, Jay Sherman.

12.Heroes– This show was great in the first season, then with only brief glimpses of greatness in the later seasons, the writers and the network proceeded to dump it in the trash, rub it around some sewage and finally make it have a one night stand with Andy Dick. IT STINKS!

The struggling hourlong legal drama, starring Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Gloria Reuben and Jane Kaczmarek, premiered in 2008. It was then returned for a second season, with episodes that began to air last June. 12 of season 2's 15 episodes have been broadcast thus far -- the last being Aug. 24 -- so the cancellation will leave fans wondering when the final three will air, or if it's get-the-DVD time. A look at the TNT's webpage for the show literally shows nothing.

'Grey's Anatomy,' 'The Office' and 'American Idol' may be over, but the 2009 TV season is just heating up.

We're giving you the lowdown on all of this summer's hottest returning shows -- 'Mad Men,' 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' and 'The Closer,' just to name a few -- to keep TV fans cooking over the next three months.

When the networks go into summer hibernation, it's time for the cable networks to come out and play. While they've been making inroads with fall and spring original programming, most cable networks stick to the summer frame where competition is light and they put up huge numbers that NBC would envy. TNT added a few shows to achieve a three-night schedule of original programming this summer, bringing it closer and closer to full network programming levels. And TNT knows a thing or two about massive ratings hits.

They're coupling smash hit The Closer at 9 PM ET with Raising the Bar at 10 on Mondays starting June 8. Bar launched huge and secured a renewal before everyone realized what a huge steaming pile of crap it was. So now it's got the cushiest timeslot on the network to try and win back all the viewers it pissed away. Let's hope they've improved the product and Felicityed Mark Paul-Gosselaar's hair.

'Saturday Night Live Presidential Bash 2008'(9PM, NBC) Is it as important as tomorrow night's election coverage? Duh. But it's undoubtedly more fun, as the Not Ready for Primetime Players unspool two hours of very primetime-worthy political skits.

After the success of The Closer, you can't blame TNT for going with a proven formula.

The cable network is close to greenlighting two police drama pilots, a project from Jerry Bruckheimer about young undercover officers and Bunker Hill starring Donnie Wahlberg (which actually already received an a pilot order).

TNT's certainly been a busy little bee, stacking up new series left and right. Besides these two pilots, they've got Time Heals, starring Jada Pinkett Smith as a hospital nursing director; Night and Day, with William Fichtner playing an agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; and Men of a Certain Age, a dramedy featuring Ray Romano, Scott Bakula and Andre Braugher.

In a time when networks are so quick to pull the plug on new series, it is absolutely stunning that two of this season's newest cable series have already been picked up for a second season. What's even more surprising is that one renewed show is Stephen Bochco's terrible Raising the Bar. After setting a record for a series debut on basic cable with 7.7 million viewers, 2.2 million people asked themselves what the hell they were watching, and the series settled into an average of 5.5 mil. But it's only been three weeks?

Surely, more of its viewers will realize that the show is absolutely terrible? From Gosselaar's bleeding heart crying to the bitching between his friends and Jane Kaczmarek's crazy judge, there's more leaps in logic and good sense than in Prison Break. The show makes Boston Legal look like a courtroom documentary. TNT also picked up Holly Hunter's Saving Grace after a respectable summer run.

It's kind of nice when the networks spread out their premieres, ensuring me a fighting chance at sampling most of the new shows. Call me crazy, and you definitely wouldn't be the first, but I have this weird obsession with trying to catch at least one episode of virtually every new major show that premieres and, if at all possible making that the pilot episode. It's allowed me to see a lot of great shows, and a lot of stinkers. But it makes this time of year a busy blast, too!

I also try to keep up with returning shows to see what they've done in their off-season. If it's one I watch, then I want to see if they've tweaked the formula in any way; and if it's one I don't, then I'm always interested to see if they've come up with something to pull me in. With tonight the unofficial start of the fall season, we see the newest networks, FOX and The CW getting an early start by returning three prominent shows. We also say goodbye, maybe forever, to one of the most enjoyable new shows of the summer while TNT takes the chance to bow a new series.

'Gossip Girl'(8PM, The CW) 2nd season premiereWhat Nate Archibald did on his summer vacation: Hooked up with Serena van der Woodsen.

Or so everyone thinks. Actually, the pals have just pretended to be dating while summering in the Hamptons so that no one will suspect what -- or rather who -- Nate's really been doing. Meanwhile, Serena spent the summer pining for Dan, who's been entertaining a revolving door of girls in the city, while sis Jenny was interning for Blair's mom.

And about Miss Waldorf ... she's returning from Europe with a big surprise for would-be boyfriend Chuck, and, as we'll soon learn, that surprise will have a surprising connection to ... well, we'll let that be a surprise.

TNT's original dramas are kind of hit or miss for me. I'm absolutely in love with The Closer, but have zero interest in Saving Grace, despite its good reviews and Holly Hunter's Emmy nomination. It was while I was watching The Closer that I saw the ads for Raising the Bar, TNT's newest series, which premieres on Monday, September 1 at 10 pm. I've got to say, I had the same reaction when I first saw promos for Saving Grace: "meh."

I love a good lawyer show, but there was something about Raising the Bar that just struck me as bland. I really didn't know if I'd even bother checking out the premiere. However, when I got the chance to see the first three episodes, I decided to jump on it. This way I could check it out at my leisure, but more importantly, I could figure out just what the hell is going on with Mark-Paul Gosselaar's hair.

Cigliuti will co-star with Gosselaar. Her character Bobbi, a Brooklyn native, is brought in to help with the strenuous workload at the public defender's office. Gosselaar flirtatiously calls her "Bobbi from Brooklyn" and takes an interest in his new co-worker.